Orange Coast Beats Rival Fullerton

Center Natalie Weeks scored the go-ahead basket with 44 seconds left and Adria Sortino made two free throws with three seconds left as the Orange Coast women’s basketball team beat Fullerton, 57-54, in one semifinal of the Simple Green Christmas Classic Saturday.

Weeks, whose basket put the Pirates ahead, 55-54, finished with 12 points. OCC which will play Cerritos at 4 today in the championship game. Erin Tomlinson scored 14 and had 10 rebounds for OCC, which shared the Orange Empire Conference title with Fullerton last season.

Teresa Manning had 18 and Chris Payne added 16 for Fullerton, which plays Chaffey in the third-place game at 2 today.

In a nonconference game:

Canyons 67, Irvine Valley 58--Jami Allred had 13 points and 12 rebounds for Irvine Valley (8-4), but Kameelah Purdom and Miko Williams combined for 23 points for Canyons.

Cypress 61, Grossmont 40--Erica McCraney and Sharee Brown had 18 and 17 points, respectively, and Antares Vice grabbed 12 rebounds for Cypress (5-8).

In the San Bernardino Valley men’s tournament:

San Bernardino Valley 66, Cypress 59--Guard Meko Parker scored 17 for Cypress (7-8), which was down at the half, 33-22. Guard Chris Killens made 10 of 12 free throws and finished with 12 points for the Chargers.

In the Pasadena tournament:

Pasadena 61, Fullerton 60--Terrell Towns scored on a layup as time expired for Pasadena in the third-place game. Fullerton had been down, 30-4, but took the lead early in the second half. Jerry McNair scored 15 for Fullerton (7-8).

Chaffey 72, Santa Ana 60--Santa Ana played without leading scorer Chris Mattice, who suffered a cut above his eye in a double-overtime victory over Rio Hondo Friday. Mike McCowen, Brian Siddons and Jehovany Barraza had 12 each for Santa Ana.

In a nonconference men’s game:

Irvine Valley 77, Grossmont 73--Ben Esplin had 17 points and William Byrd added 15 for Irvine Valley (10-3). Grossmont is 5-7.